Sandsend beach

Sleights holiday 9

Eventually I took off my sandals and wandered down to the beach, enjoying the cool, damp sand where the tide had recently retreated. It was early but there were plenty of families settling in for an extended stay, with all the beach paraphernalia that seems to necessitate - windbreaks (not that there was any wind!), sunshades, rugs, small tents, buckets, spades and inflatables, not to forget the all-important picnic basket. There are a few nice cafés on the beachside, and no doubt some ice cream vans would appear later too. It seemed a very safe beach for young families, with very gently sloping sand and the two streams flowing down for extra interest - always good for constructing dams! 

Looking south towards Whitby, the heat haze was obvious. I understand that a day or so later the whole coast was covered in a strong sea fret (mist) so I was quite lucky, I guess, to be able to enjoy the sunshine, though by midday it was too scorching hot for me and I retreated to my accommodation inland, and the joys of a good book.  I finished 'Eight Feet in the Andes', a travel diary by the Irish writer, Dervla Murphy (who sadly died recently). Now I'm reading 'The Book of Joy', a dialogue between the Dalai Lama and (the late) Archbishop Desmond Tutu, which is fascinating and very uplifting. 

Sandsend

Sleights holiday 8

There is a two-mile long beach to the north side of Whitby, which ends in cliffs at the village of Sandsend (its name being a bit of a giveaway!) I arrived there soon after breakfast. There was already little space to park the car and people were beginning to set up camp for the day on the beach. The tide was at its lowest, so most folk were sensibly enough settling well above the high tide mark, to avoid having to move later on. 

I decided I'd explore the little village first. I've driven through it on the coast road before now, but never stopped to investigate. It turned out to be quite pretty, with cottages of stone, stucco and those lovely red clay pantiles, all arranged around a couple of becks that flow into the sea. I think most of the cottages are now holiday lets but were originally homes for fishermen, and workers at the nearby alum works and on the Mulgrave Estate, which still owns some of the land. There were once two villages, Sandsend and East Row but the two merged into one. There was a railway here between 1855 and 1958, originally presumably to facilitate the alum workings, but the easy access led to a growth in tourism

I was a little surprised to see a thatched cottage, next door to the pub. The quaint, two-bedroomed Hart Cottage is Grade II listed, built in the late 17th century - and you can rent it for your holidays, should you so wish. 

Sleights

Sleights holiday 7

The heat was building as the week went on, so I was very limited in what I could do. One day I took a walk down the steep hill into Sleights village, which I hadn't really explored before. In truth there isn't a lot to see; it is a pleasant residential village, through which the River Esk - and the railway - run in quite a deep cutting. With the heat shimmering, the scene above somehow reminded me more of a French village than an English one. 

In contrast, the typical stone houses with roofs of red clay tiles are very much the local vernacular. Add in a few roses and a pure blue sky... very pretty

Some of the houses were decorated with wreaths of flowers and ribbons: yellow sunflowers and blue flowers intended, I think, to express support for those suffering the horrific ongoing violence in Ukraine. There are no statistics, as far as I know, but many of our communities have come together to host Ukrainians who have fled the war. (Indeed, my daughter's family have a lovely young woman currently living with them.) It may be that there is a community of refugees around Sleights and Whitby. It seems there have been some fundraising efforts there. 

The heat certainly made me need to stop, rest and drink frequently. Thankfully in Sleights there's a small, rather nice garden centre with a café. It had shaded tables and gardens alongside the river and proved a good place to sit and contemplate life, with a coffee and (oh yes!) cake too. 

Whitby harbour

Sleights holiday 6

By the time I ended my walk in Whitby itself it was after noon, very hot and predictably very crowded. I always enjoy looking around the harbour area, which is full of boats, mostly yachts and small cruisers. 

Whitby Abbey and St Mary's Church are prominent on the headland above the old town. I didn't make my way up the famous 199 steps this time, though I wrote about the abbey and church last year HERE and HERE if you want to read that. 

In the photo above you can see the old swing bridge that I mentioned yesterday, which used to carry all through traffic from one side of Whitby to the other, until the new high level bridge was built in 1980. There has been a toll bridge here for centuries, replaced eventually by a swing bridge in the 1800s. It allows ships to pass up and down the river Esk when the tide is high enough. This was important as there are ship building and repair workshops up the estuary and now there is a marina with berths for numerous vessels. The bridge is just a single carriageway, now controlled by traffic lights and so it became the site of much traffic congestion until the new bridge was built. 

Although fishing from Whitby has diminished in volume over the years from its heyday as an important whaling port around 1800, there is still some commercial fishing. There were a number of Fisheries Patrol vessels moored, bristling with communications masts. 

I didn't linger long in Whitby because of the crowds and the heat, though on my wanderings I did come across a couple of the sculptures by Emma Stothard that form a heritage trial around the town. There was a fisherman mending his nets and 'the gansey knitter' (below), which celebrates the fisher wives who knitted traditional, thick, patterned jumpers for their menfolk.  I found a shady little park where I ate my packed lunch and then took the bus back to Sleights. I'd intended to take the train but it turned out there wasn't one! Or at least, not until very late in the day. 

 

Sleights to Whitby

Sleights holiday 5

On the first full day of my holiday, I set off fairly smartly after breakfast to walk from Sleights (pronounced Slites) to Whitby, part of the Esk Valley walk, about 4 miles. It promised to be a very hot day so I wanted to make the most of the cooler morning. The path follows closely beside the North Yorkshire Moors Railway line, which runs from Whitby to Pickering. It is a heritage line, run by volunteers, and normally runs a regular steam train service. As a result of the restrictions caused by Covid and now the recent dry weather, I gather it is struggling to be sustainable. The drought conditions meant that they were only using diesel locos this summer but then tourists, on which the line depends, are less interested in travelling... so, after a few rain showers, they brought back some steam-hauled services, with enhanced fire-watch precautions. The week that I was on holiday there, there were several trackside fires (caused by sparks from the engines) so they have once again had to stop using the steam locomotives. Having said that, I was lucky enough to catch sight of one of them as I was walking. I find the familiar chug-chug as they pass heart-warmingly nostalgic. And yes, the loco was travelling backwards... 

The drought was evident from the very low water in the River Esk too. Further along in Ruswarp (pronounced Russop) it was a little deeper, so the boat and paddleboard hire business was doing good trade.  It was hot by now, so I made my way along to a riverside café and gratefully sat in the shade with a drink for a while. 

I resumed my walk, choosing to walk along the more shaded and more direct path alongside the rail line down to Whitby. Near Ruswarp, the 13-arch brick-built Larpool Viaduct, constructed in 1882, used to take trains on the Scarborough to Whitby railway. That closed in 1965 and the bridge is now a cycle path. 

Much nearer to Whitby, the high level bridge, built in 1980, carries the A171 road across the Esk. Before this was built all the traffic used to have to go over a narrow swing bridge down in the old part of Whitby, by the harbour, which must have been a nightmare! The slender columns frame views of Whitby Abbey and St Mary's Church on the headland above the town. 

 

Talking sculptures

Sleights holiday 4

Also dotted around the Danby Lodge estate were some 'talking sculptures', the idea being that you pressed a button on a box to hear some of the stories linked to the area. I must confess I forgot to note the identity of the rather kind looking chap (and I didn't press the buttons to hear the stories as, being deaf, such activities aren't much use to me!) 

In the gardens around Danby Lodge centre, I found Lady Downe, the lady of the manor (rather piercing eyes!):

and a gamekeeper, his hunting gun over his arm. 

Here be dragons...

Sleights holiday 3

At the Danby Lodge North York Moors visitor centre, they have made great efforts to provide activities and things of interest to children. Here be dragons: a huge, impressive dragon sculpture that was carved by chainsaw by Steve Iredale, with metal embellishments made by local blacksmith, James Godbold. 

If you don't like dragons, perhaps a dragon fly is more your thing?  I found one along one of the woodland trails, where there were also little fairy houses for the 'woodlings'.  There is a 'salmon labyrinth' where children can run around pretending to be salmon and, in the process, explore the fish's life cycle. (Needless to say, I didn't run round it myself!) Another wooden sculpture shows an otter chasing a shoal of fish:

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the sculpture below, again carved in wood by Paul Green. Called 'Back to our roots', it depicts a human figure merging with the roots of a tree - a symbol of our physical and emotional interconnectedness with nature. In time, the sculpture too will merge and decay into its surroundings. 

Danby Lodge

Sleights holiday 2

Danby Lodge National Park Centre is situated on the bank of the River Esk. It was once a hunting lodge and has now been imaginatively repurposed as a visitor centre, with a lovely café, shop, displays about the area and lots of trails and activities for children. It also houses the 'Inspired by...' gallery, which currently has a wonderful photography exhibition, 'Woodland Sanctuary', by Joe Cornish and Simon Baxter, which was, of course, what I mainly intended to see. 

I was happily surprised by the centre, and enjoyed wandering around some of the trails, as well as the inside exhibitions. 

I don't manage to take many butterfly photos and this was a rather ragged specimen but it stayed still long enough to get a reasonable shot. I don't think it is anything more exciting than a Meadow Brown - fairly common, apparently. 

North York Moors

Sleights holiday 1

As my family and several close friends were away on holiday for much of August, I thought I might suffer FOMO! (Fear of Missing Out) So, not to be outdone, I booked myself a week at a small Christian retreat centre, the St Oswald's Community in Sleights, on the Yorkshire east coast, run by some friends of mine. (Some of you may remember I went there in July last year too.) Unbelievably, just like last year, my stay there coincided with a massive heatwave. It's not as if we get many spells of very high temperatures around here, although this year has been pretty exceptional. I don't really cope well with heat, so I was obliged to lounge around, reading and dozing, much of the time. Not that that is a real hardship though I would have liked to be able to do a few longer walks. By midday each day, I found it was too hot and airless for walking. 

Anyway, I get ahead of myself... I took the picture above on my way to the coast. Mindful of the enormous traffic jams I endured last year on the A64 road, this time I took a more northerly route around the top of the North York Moors. A minor detour took me to the NY Moors National Parks Centre at Danby, and through some beautiful heather moorland. I was rather surprised to see it already in full bloom. Heather does flower in August but the purple ling heather, which this is, usually peaks a week or two later, I think. 

Honey...

Honey, I shrunk the boat! It's rare that you see a boat on the canal quite as mini as this one. I couldn't tell if it was used as living accommodation or simply as a day boat, although it is privately owned. You'd have to be super-organised inside but it looks - to me - a lot more manageable than the usual narrowboats, which can be anything up to 72 feet long (although the locks on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal will only hold a boat up to 62 feet long). I like its bright colours, though it was a bit on the tatty side compared to some. This is the bow end you're looking at, rather more bathtub than bow shaped, perhaps! I enjoy seeing all the amazing variations of craft on the water; it makes my walks very interesting. 

Sunday meditation: Gratitude

'It is not happiness that makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy. Every moment is a gift. There is no certainty that you will have another moment, with all the opportunity that it contains. The gift within every gift is the opportunity it offers us. Most often it is the opportunity to enjoy it, but sometimes a difficult gift is given to us and that can be an opportunity to rise to the challenge.'            David Steindl-Rast 

Calke Abbey stables and church

Calke Abbey is set in a sizeable estate, with gardens and a deer park. It also has a huge stable block, part of which is now used for weddings. I'm assuming that they used to keep racehorses or something here, but surprisingly I can't find any info about this anywhere. Like the rest of the property, it is somewhat rundown and littered with bits and bobs just lying around. 

There is a sizeable blacksmith's forge, another reason that leads me to assume the equine enterprise was at one time quite significant. 

The church of St Giles is now a private manorial chapel, rebuilt in Gothic Revival style in 1827 by Sir George Crewe. Before that there was a medieval church associated with Calke Priory, and then it became a parish church for the village of Calke. 

It's small and relatively plain inside, full of memorials to Calke Abbey's family members, including the diamond shaped funerary hatchments. These are heraldic devices that were hung for a few months outside the mansions of the gentry when they died, before being lodged in the family chapel or parish church. You see them in many churches associated with noble families. 

I didn't have time to explore the gardens, but on the way back to the car I noticed these unusual cattle. From a quick Google search, I think they are native English Longhorns, nowadays a relatively rare breed. The land in the Midlands and further south is even more parched than up here. All the grass is so dry and brown that the animals are effectively eating hay right there in the meadows.